Chapter 472 - 419: Million-Life Crisis

Chapter 472: Chapter 419: Million-Life Crisis

No one would have thought the Fire Worship Cult would move so quickly, launching a counterattack before the day of the beheading operation had even ended.

Key personnel urgently gathered in the war room to discuss countermeasures. In addition to several officers and high-ranking officials from Soloma, the team leaders from the various national action teams were also present.

Even though the previous beheading operation hadn’t gone smoothly and the various nations had their doubts about Soloma, the external threat was far greater than any internal friction. The Fire Worship Cult was the enemy they had to unite against.

Soloma had sent a new lieutenant general to preside over the meeting. The lieutenant general began by asserting, "This attack wasn’t a spontaneous counterattack. It must be a plan the Cultists devised long ago!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

A spontaneous attack would never be this efficient.

Li Meng spoke up. "I heard those Cultists used the power of ’Crimson Fear’ to break through your border defenses. How exactly did they manage that? Aren’t the Cultists themselves affected by it?"

Soloma, and indeed the entire Human Federation, had been unprepared for this because the members of the Fire Worship Cult were all human. As humans, the power of Crimson Fear should have affected them, too.

The lieutenant general said grimly, "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains is the truth. And the truth is, not everyone in a black robe is a Cultist."

Hearing this, another team leader’s face went pale. "Do you mean to say, Lieutenant General, that a large number of Parasites have put on black robes and are posing as Cultists?!"

The lieutenant general gave a grim nod. "That’s right. Considering the Fire Worship Cult has long been colluding with the Parasites, such a scenario is not at all impossible."

"But..."

Though shocked, everyone realized it made a certain cold sense after a moment of thought.

The nations of the Human Federation formed coalitions and alliances, so why wouldn’t their enemies do the same?

Even if there was friction between the Fire Worship Cult and the Parasites, the most logical decision when facing the Human Federation would be to unite against a common foe.

"I can understand why the Cultists would do it, but why would the Parasites agree?" someone asked, completely perplexed. "These things are controlled by Alien Spores. Isn’t their basic instinct to convert more of their own kind? By cooperating with humans, aren’t they violating that instinct?"

"Our knowledge of the Parasites is not that deep," the lieutenant general said. "Especially their leader, the ’Prophet,’ who has already demonstrated great intelligence in its conflicts with the allied forces. Employing a strategy of allying with certain humans isn’t out of the question. Right now, our top priority is to eliminate them outside the city. We cannot allow them to enter this metropolis and its large population!"

The city they were in was a major Soloman metropolis with a population of nearly one million. If those Parasites, suspected of posing as Cultists, managed to storm the city and spread Crimson Fear, the consequences would be unthinkable.

"To eliminate them, why not just deploy the intelligent war machines you’ve developed?" the team leader from Sisiya asked. "Those machines aren’t human, so they shouldn’t be affected by Crimson Fear, right?"

"According to reports from the front, the enemy specifically brought long-range signal jamming devices for this operation. Besides, even if the machines aren’t affected, the people operating them are! The war machines have automated targeting and attack modules, but human engineers inevitably have to make remote adjustments. If they see an image of Crimson Terra in the process, they’ll be harmed as well."

"With Soloma’s level of technology, can’t you have an AI automatically censor the relevant images?"

"We can, but those creatures have screens and photos plastered all over their bodies. Whether we censor the images directly or lower the video resolution, it would impair the war machines’ combat efficiency."

Another officer made a radical suggestion, "Lieutenant General, let’s just request a saturation bombing with missiles and rockets. Clear the entire area!"

The others voiced their approval. Long-range bombardment only required precise coordinates, completely circumventing the effects of Crimson Fear.

"Emergency communication request—!"

A notification suddenly popped up on the large screen in the room, followed by the images of several Soldiers of Soloma.

A subordinate officer on the screen shouted, "Lieutenant General! The defenses have collapsed! The soldiers can’t even engage the enemy; many have been frightened to death by the images of Crimson Terra! The enemy vanguard has already crossed our defense line and will reach the city you’re in very soon!"

Just as the subordinate officer finished his report, the image flickered violently and then cut out.

The lieutenant general’s face was grim. "The third defense line was breached that quickly... At this rate, the enemy will be at the city’s gates in half an hour, tops."

The expressions on everyone’s faces were grim and varied. At the enemy’s current speed, using missiles would undoubtedly endanger the city itself.

A storm was approaching. A decision had to be made, and fast: stay or leave.

If they decided to leave, everyone in the war room could of course escape—those present were either high-ranking officials and generals or elite team leaders from various nations. They could be evacuated at a moment’s notice or even use Teleportation Items to leave directly.

But what about the nearly one million people in this city? There wasn’t time for a mass evacuation, and giving every single person a precious Teleportation Item was nothing but a pipe dream.

The lieutenant general was caught in an impossible situation, unsure of what to do. Just then, a new communication feed appeared on the large screen.

An elderly man with a full head of white hair and a white lab coat appeared.

The lieutenant general’s face immediately lit up with delight upon seeing the man. "Dr. Heisen!"

Some of the others in the room recognized the elderly man on the screen, while others did not.

Li Meng pushed up his glasses. After joining the Strategy Research Room, he had gained clearance to view a great deal of classified intelligence. The file on Soloma’s key figures included this very "Dr. Heisen."

The intelligence file on Haisen described him as an all-around genius in the field of intelligent machinery. Soloma’s vastly superior systems for the development and manufacturing of their Intelligent Robots and intelligent war machines were all single-handedly created by this Dr. Heisen.